HR4RS stamp
Nora Fernandez Fernandez
On October 6 and 7, the XI Iberian Congress of Tribology was held at the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Portugal IBERTRIB 2022. Three members of a URJC research group participated in it, winning the prize for the best presentation at the Congress with the research “Using contact mechanics to describe the time dependent behavior of polyacrylamide based hydrogels”.
The three URJC professors and researchers from the Durability and Mechanical Integrity of Structural Materials (DIMME) high-performance group who have been awarded are Carlos Reinhards – Hervas, a third-year doctoral student and visiting professor; Jesús Rodríguez Pérez, professor in the area of Mechanical Engineering; and Álvaro Rico, full professor in the area of Mechanics of Continuous Media and Theory of Structures.
The work presented during IBERTRIB 2022 is part of the URJC's Doctorate program in Industrial Technologies, which Reinhards is currently studying, under the supervision of his two fellow speakers, Álvaro Rico and Jesús Rodríguez.
According to Rico, "the research consists of developing an experimental protocol and a mathematical analytical model that is capable of predicting the behavior of the hydrogel material, with a view to applying it to natural tissues."
The biennial IBERTRIB event addresses the entire subject of tribology, which "mainly studies the mechanical behavior of surfaces," explains Rico. His research, therefore, tries to develop a protocol to recognize and characterize a change in behavior on the surface of a material, in this case hydrogels. However, he explains that “its application to society and to real life will be to recognize in very early stages if natural tissues are sick or if behavior other than normal is recognized in them”.
In addition, Rico wanted to highlight "the effort that the Rey Juan Carlos University is making in supporting its researchers, since part of the work presented in this communication is part of a project awarded in the call for grants to carry out Research Projects. R&D for young doctors of the Rey Juan Carlos University during the years 2022-2024, within the support and encouragement program of the Community of Madrid for young doctors and the multi-year agreement for the Regulation of the Cooperation Framework in the Regional System of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation signed between said public entity and the Rey Juan Carlos University”.
As Rico has commented, this award means “understanding that we are going in the right direction, seeing our work recognized by the community. This is an international congress and that we have been recognized with this award is to know that what we are doing is relevant and interesting”.